Seem to have forsaken chronicling the virtual multiverse in order to develop games…OH WELL!

Now Playing: Doom VFR

I was not in a huge rush to play this originally, as I had heard that not only was there no new content here, but that this version of Doom actually had the majority of the content from the 2016 game removed for this version. Playing the same game, but with worse looking graphics because everything has to be turned down for VR, and with potentially very questionable VR controls because of how fast paced the original was, wasn’t high on my priority list.

Then a friend of mine, the only other person I know who has PSVR, got it and told me how amazing it was and that it actually has a whole new campaign! Well…he was wrong.

Oh, it’s a decently fun game still, but there’s nothing new here. There’s the pretense of a new story, but it’s entirely made up of recycled pieces of levels from the original version, just with some laughably bad mini-games and voice acting thrown in. Really, I don’t get the mini-games at all. They don’t use any VR or motion control features and they’re horribly simplistic and pointless. One of them tells you to “carefully re-arrange the mirrors to align all the lasers correctly”, and you can actually just hold down left or right and they’ll all pop right into place on their own (for all 2 of this type of “puzzle”).

Anyway, other than that it still mostly resembles the proper Doom experience. I don’t ever really bother with the teleport to move mechanic in VR games, as I prefer real-time movement (motion sickness be damned), but this game does at least take an interesting approach to it, turning it into a combat mechanic where you can teleport inside of stunned enemies as a finishing move instead of the usual way of doing it. You can still move and turn freely at the same time too, so that’s good. They did remove the jump ability for some reason though, which can make things feel a little stilted at times.

Overall I’d say that the controls are mostly good for a VR game though. The lack of jump and the teleport mechanic take a little getting used to, but you get the hang of it and start effortlessly blasting your way through everything in no time.

As for that campaign, it’s really, REALLY, cut down from the original. This version is only 3-4 hours long, depending on if you go back for collectibles and challenges. It’s also significantly easier even on the same difficulty setting. So basically what we have here is a stripped down and dumbed down version of an already existing game that doesn’t really offer anything new other than the novelty of playing some modern Doom in VR.

Obviously this is not something to be super excited about. It might be a bit of fun if you’re really, really into Doom, but even then it’s kind of underwhelming. It’s a somewhat entertaining gimmick spin-off of a vastly superior game that I sadly wouldn’t recommend bothering with until it goes on a serious sale someday.

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2 comments on “Now Playing: Doom VFR”

As you know my gaming days are pretty much over. But there is one game that I still play from time to time and that is Doom. Either the original or the Doom 3 Xbox 360 version. Too bad this one wasn’t so great. I would like it I think, purely from a nostalgic point of view. Great post! 😊